


Playing War

by Nadja_Lee



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Gen, Manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-05-23
Updated: 2001-05-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22869508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadja_Lee/pseuds/Nadja_Lee
Summary: Scott and Nathan….play?
Comments: 7
Kudos: 6





	Playing War

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: Set in the comic world. Set right after "When Dreams Are Dust"
> 
> Dedicated to: Jemisard. Your words are as beautiful as your mind.
> 
> With thanks to Misty and Maria for keeping me writing with their gentle words and kind encouragement.
> 
> Thanks to Christina for the Beta.

**Playing War**

" I told you they'll hurt you," Nathan said as he came up to Scott. Scott turned from where he had been gazing out over the open land, away from the orphanage. It was a nice sunny Saturday and they had just eaten lunch.

" Yeah, you did," Scott admitted and they walked together over to sit on the grass behind the orphanage. Scott still had this foolish hope that soon the Bogarts would return and take him with them…. as their son.

" Don't confuse reality with dreams," Nathan said as he saw the look in Scott's eyes. " They didn't want you and that's that."

Did he have to be so cynical? Scot wondered. He knew they haven't really wanted him; it had been too good to be true. After all, he was damaged goods. Who wanted damaged goods? No one.

" How can I forget reality when I have you to turn my dreams to dust?" Scott mumbled so softly that no one heard him.

" Come, let's play. It'll cheer you up," Nathan suggested.

" Okay. What shall we play?"

Nathan was his only friend and his roommate. He only wanted to cheer him up, Scott knew that but he really didn't feel much like playing.

" Hmm…cowboys and Indians or hide and seek? Last time you made it far too easy for me to find you when we played "hide and seek". You need to think more, have a strategy, use your head," Nathan said, a strange edge in his voice. Scott thought about it. They often played those games but he didn't like to play "cowboys and Indians" with Nathan because Nathan always seemed to get too much into the game; one time Nathan had actually beat him up when Scott had lost to him, saying that second best didn't cut it.

" Let's play with the figures instead," Scott suggested and got up and walked to a tree. Inside a hole in the tree he took out a container and walked back to where Nathan sat on the grass. Scott sat down and opened the container and took the small toy soldiers out.

" I'll be black and you'll be blue," Nathan said and took all the black toy soldiers to his side. This game Scott enjoyed; it was interesting to try and outthink Nathan who for some reason was very good at finding brilliant war strategies for his "soldiers".

" Let's say that your soldiers are surrounded inside a city," Nathan laid some sticks around Scott's blue soldiers on the grass. " And my army is just outside…. here," he placed his black soldiers around the sticks.

" And the sticks are…" Scott began.

" The city limits."

" How many roads in and out of town? How many men do I have? How much ammunition? Doctors? Back-up? Communication? Which outside areas do my people control? Do we control any airplanes? Do the enemy?" Scott asked as he tried to form a strategy in his mind.

Nathan smiled.

" Those are good and necessary questions. But remember….second best doesn't cut it. In real life…they just get dead," Nathan warned as he told Scott the rules of the game and they started playing.

When Scott won after 2 hours of hard "battles" Nathan smiled. Scott's last maneuver had been very clever and quite cruel on his enemy. Wonderful. Things were going in the right direction. Soon, Scott would be his and none would be able to take him away from him, not someone like the Bogarts, not Scott's own dreams not even that stupid dream firebird that Scott had talked about. He'll be all his because by then…he wouldn't want to leave.

The End


End file.
